UFC 306 live blog: Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili

This Saturday, the UFC goes where it’s never gone before: the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Hailed as a revolutionary new venue for fan experience, the UFC brought a special card that Dana White has promised will be “the greatest live sporting event of all-time,” and in the UFC 306 main event, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley puts his title on the line against No. 1 contender Merab Dvalishvili.

Pulling off the upset over Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling to claim the bantamweight title at UFC 292, “Suga” made his first successful title defense earlier this year, avenging a previous loss to Chito Vera with a one-sided shellacking in the main event of UFC 299. Now he looks to cement himself as the best 135-pound fighter on Earth with a similar performance against Dvalishvili.

Viewed by some as the uncrowned king at 135 pounds, Dvalishvili is currently on an impressive 10-fight win streak, dating back to 2018. A win over former champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 earlier this year cemented Dvalishvili’s place atop the bantamweight contenders, and now he looks to avenge his teammate and create his own legacy at 35 pounds.

Check out the UFC 306 main event live blog below.

Prefight:

Main event time. What more can they do in the Sphere for the main event?

Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic gets made official before we get the walkouts. Hopefully, the next two months fly by.

So, this last graphic thing on the Sphere is kind of weird. Very CGI movie-ish. At least the start of it was. I will say, I’m glad the pacing hasn’t felt impacted at all by this spectacle. That might be just me though.

The background takes a night city theme as Dvalishvili makes his way to the octagon.

Superstar by Lupe Fiasco plays on the speakers for O’Malley and they have definitely made him feel like one with this entrance.

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5:

Official Decision:

Post-fight: